Zach Johnson Loves The Difficulty of Ryder Cup
Zach Johnson doesn’t love Ryder Cup for the excitement of the matches or the prestige of being on the team. He loves it because it’s hard to win. He thinks it’s the best event in golf.
He’s been enamored with Ryder Cup since the first time he played on a team, in 2006, when Tom Lehman was the captain.
“I loved it, and the team camaraderie, chemistry, everything about it, just grabbed me,” he said at the press conference announcing his captaincy for 2023.
To say he’s thrilled about being Ryder Cup captain is an understatement.
Even though he was not sure it was his time, his fellow PGA Tour players, particularly Steve Stricker, Davis Love III, Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk, and younger golfers like Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, all told him he was the right man to step into the captain’s role.
As a former British Open champ, it makes sense for him to head a team in Europe. The fans across the pond can be tough on U.S. teams and captains, but they do have reverence for champions of that major in particular as well as for The Masters, and Johnson has won both. He will go into the contest with gravitas.
As far as leadership styles, Johnson said he hopes to take a page out of the Steve Stricker playbook and make the week as normal as possible for the competitors, which is difficult in what has become the most hyped golf event in the world. Only Tiger Woods going for another major championship would have the possibility of eclipsing a Ryder Cup, no matter who is captaining and who is on either team.
Zach Johnson is staying with six captain’s picks. Although Stricker requested six in his captaincy due to COVID, Johnson could see the benefits.
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“Rather than changing it from there to something different, we thought, one, yeah, it seemed to work because now we’re going across the pond to a golf course that we’re unfamiliar with,” Johnson explained and reminded everyone that the European Ryder Cup team has input into the course setup. “I think it allows me to really pinpoint some key attributes that could be, you know, an asset on this golf course.”
Not only is Zach Johnson unfamiliar with the course, he’s also unfamiliar with the country. He’s never been to Italy.
Automatic selections will be determined on the PGA of America points system which counts only five tournaments in 2022, The Players, the Masters, the PGA, the U.S. Open, and the British Open. Then, in 2023, points will be awarded for all PGA Tour events. The Players, the Masters, the PGA, the U.S. Open, and the British Open get more points in a Ryder Cup year than regular events.
“Those are the events that seem to kind of replicate the difficulty and the gravity of a Ryder Cup to some degree,” Johnson said. “I think there’s more parallels there than even a Playoff event. The four majors and The Players in particular are just massive.”
The points will end with the second FedEx Cup playoff tournament in 2023. That’s when the captain’s picks will be announced.
Zach Johnson has already made his first captain’s decision, choosing Stricker as a Vice-Captain. That is surely a move that the participants will like.
“I’m pumped and honored to have him along my side, a guy that’s led us, Team USA, to a pretty resounding victory in 2020,” Johnson said.
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He also expects to get a lot of advice from Davis Love III.
“His phone better be on, and frankly, he’s my neighbor. It’s not hard to meet him at the local barbeque joint and sit down and talk Ryder Cup,” Zach Johnson noted. “I will utilize that friendship when needed and to the fullest because he’s an amazing individual.”
The next Ryder Cup is just 18 months away, at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club, 10 miles from Rome, Italy. The club already has a photo of the Ryder Cup in front of the Colosseum on its website, and the course supposedly has distant views of St. Peter’s Basilica, which is handy for golfers and fans who need to pray for putts to drop during the matches.